Convert TS to RMVB — Free Online Tool
Convert MPEG-2 Transport Stream (.ts) files to RMVB format using libx264 video encoding and AAC audio, right in your browser. This tool is particularly useful for repacking broadcast or streaming captures into the legacy RealMedia Variable Bitrate container, which was once widely used for distributed compressed video across early file-sharing networks.
to
FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
Drop your TS file here
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Settings
Note: Browser-based encoding uses approximate quality targets. For precise CRF compression, copy the FFmpeg command above and run it on your desktop.
Estimated output:
Conversion Complete!
DownloadHow It Works
TS files store video and audio in a multiplexed stream designed for broadcast transmission, often containing H.264 or H.265 video alongside AAC or AC3 audio, plus optional subtitles and multiple audio tracks. Because RMVB only supports libx264 video and AAC or MP3 audio, this conversion re-encodes the video stream using libx264 with a CRF quality setting and transcodes the audio to AAC. Unlike a simple remux, this is a full transcode — the video is decoded and re-encoded frame by frame, which takes more time but ensures the output conforms to RMVB's limited codec set. Subtitle tracks and secondary audio tracks present in the TS file are dropped, as RMVB does not support them. The result is a single-stream variable-bitrate file in the RealMedia container.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg tool, which handles all decoding, encoding, and container remuxing. In the browser version, this runs via FFmpeg.wasm compiled to WebAssembly — no installation required and no files leave your device. |
-i input.ts
|
Specifies the input Transport Stream file. FFmpeg reads the TS container, identifies the available program streams (video, audio, subtitles), and selects the default video and audio tracks for encoding into RMVB. |
-c:v libx264
|
Re-encodes the video stream using the libx264 H.264 encoder. This is required because RMVB's support in FFmpeg is limited to libx264 for video — any other codec present in the TS (such as H.265/HEVC or VP9) will be decoded and re-encoded as H.264. |
-c:a aac
|
Transcodes the audio to AAC using FFmpeg's native AAC encoder. This handles cases where the TS source contains AC3 (Dolby Digital), MP2, or other broadcast audio formats that are not compatible with the RMVB container. |
-crf 23
|
Sets the Constant Rate Factor for libx264 video encoding to 23, the default balanced setting. A lower value like 18 produces higher quality at a larger file size, while a higher value like 28 compresses more aggressively, which is relevant when converting high-bitrate broadcast TS content to a distribution-sized RMVB file. |
-b:a 128k
|
Sets the AAC audio output bitrate to 128 kilobits per second. This is adequate for most stereo content and represents a significant reduction from broadcast audio bitrates like AC3 at 192–384k, keeping the RMVB file compact without severe audible degradation. |
output.rmvb
|
Defines the output filename with the .rmvb extension, which instructs FFmpeg to use the RealMedia muxer. The RMVB container wraps the libx264 video and AAC audio into the legacy RealNetworks format structure for playback in compatible media players. |
Common Use Cases
- Repacking a broadcast television capture (.ts from a DVB or ATSC tuner) into RMVB format for sharing on legacy platforms or forums that historically distributed video in this format.
- Archiving older streaming or IPTV recordings into RMVB for compatibility with media players on devices that never received codec updates beyond RealPlayer-era formats.
- Converting a transport stream recorded from a set-top box into a smaller, self-contained RMVB file by leveraging libx264's efficient compression over the original broadcast bitrate.
- Preparing video content for distribution on early 2000s-era media sharing communities or niche databases that still catalog and serve RMVB files.
- Re-encoding a live stream capture saved as a .ts file into RMVB to fit within storage or bandwidth constraints familiar to users of older download-and-watch workflows.
- Testing or demonstrating legacy format compatibility by producing an RMVB output from a modern broadcast container for archival or educational purposes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — this is a lossy transcode in both directions. The video is decoded from its original TS-embedded codec (often H.264 or H.265) and re-encoded as libx264 at CRF 23, which introduces some generation loss. Audio is transcoded to AAC at 128k. If the source TS already contained H.264 video, you are re-encoding an already-compressed stream, which compounds quality loss slightly. Lowering the CRF value (e.g., to 18) reduces quality loss at the cost of a larger file.
They are discarded. RMVB does not support embedded subtitle tracks or multiple audio streams — it is a single-program container with one video and one audio track. The FFmpeg command will automatically select the default or first video and audio stream from the TS and encode only those. If your TS file contains a non-default audio track you need (such as a secondary language), you would need to manually specify it using the -map flag before converting.
Modern FFmpeg builds have limited but functional support for writing RealMedia containers, including RMVB, by wrapping standard codecs like libx264 and AAC inside the .rmvb file structure. The result is a file that uses the RMVB container extension and is readable by players that support it, though it may not use all native RealMedia encoding features like the original RealVideo codec. This approach prioritizes broad playback compatibility over strict RealNetworks format fidelity.
Yes. The -crf 23 flag controls video quality, where lower values produce better quality and larger files, and higher values produce smaller files with more compression. For high-quality output, try -crf 18; for a smaller file where quality is less critical, try -crf 28. The valid range is 0 (lossless) to 51 (worst quality), and changes to this value directly affect how aggressively the libx264 encoder compresses the video during the TS-to-RMVB transcode.
RMVB files are typically significantly smaller than TS files. Transport streams are designed for reliable broadcast transmission and carry overhead like program tables, null packets, and high constant bitrates — often 4–15 Mbps or more. The libx264 encoder at CRF 23 will adapt the bitrate based on scene complexity, usually producing a much more compact file. A 2GB broadcast TS recording might compress down to 300–700MB as RMVB, depending on content complexity and the original source bitrate.
The single-file command shown works for one file at a time, but you can batch process on your desktop using a shell loop. On Linux or macOS: for f in *.ts; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -crf 23 -b:a 128k "${f%.ts}.rmvb"; done. On Windows Command Prompt: for %f in (*.ts) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -crf 23 -b:a 128k "%~nf.rmvb". The browser-based tool processes one file per session, so the FFmpeg command is the recommended path for batch jobs.
Technical Notes
RMVB is a variable bitrate extension of RealNetworks' RealMedia container, and while it was once synonymous with distributed compressed video in the early internet era, it carries significant limitations by modern standards. It supports only a single video and audio track, has no subtitle container support, and no chapter metadata — all of which are commonly present in broadcast TS files and are silently dropped during this conversion. The FFmpeg RMVB muxer wraps libx264-encoded video (not the native RealVideo codec) and AAC or MP3 audio inside the .rmvb container structure, which means the resulting file may not behave identically to RMVB files encoded with RealProducer. Playback compatibility is best with VLC or MPC-HC; some hardware players that natively supported RealVideo-encoded RMVB may not recognize libx264 streams inside the same container. The CRF-based encoding means the output bitrate varies with scene complexity, which is appropriate for the variable bitrate nature of the RMVB format. There is no lossless path in this conversion — RMVB is a lossy-only format, so some quality reduction relative to the source TS is unavoidable regardless of settings.